How to Restore Items from the Windows 7 Recycle Bin

Many of the files that you delete in Windows 7 aren’t actually removed from your computer. Some files are deleted permanently, such as very large files, but Windows will alert you that it needs to permanently delete files in those situations. Deleted files are sent to a location called the Recycle Bin. This behavior serves as a sort of safeguard in the event that you accidentally deleted an important file.

So if you have deleted a file that you would now like to restore, you may have found it in the Recycle Bin, but you aren’t sure how to proceed from there. Our guide below will walk you through the process of restoring files from your Windows 7 Recycle Bin to their original locations.

How to Restore an Item from the Windows 7 Recycle Bin Back to Its Original Location

The steps in this guide are going to assume that you have a file (or files) in your Recycle Bin that you no longer wish to delete. Following these steps will restore that file to its location prior to being sent to the Recycle Bin. Note that you can elect to Restore multiple items from the Recycle Bin at once.

Side note – If you don’t see your Recycle Bin on the desktop, then it may be hidden. If you right-click in an open space on the desktop, then click Personalize, then click Change desktop icons in the blue sidebar, you will be see the menu below where you can enable the Recycle Bin icon. If you are having trouble finding that menu, you can read this article to learn how to enable the Recycle Bin.

Step 2: Click the file that you want to restore from the Recycle Bin. You can hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and click additional items to restore. You can also select all of the files in the Recycle Bin by pressing Ctrl + A on your keyboard.

Step 3: Right-click one of the selected files, then click the Restore option. This will restore all of the selected files to their original locations.

Do you need to locate files on your computer, but they’re in the AppData folder, which you are having difficult finding? Learn how to find the Windows 7 AppData folder and gain access to some of the important files you might need to save, edit, or back up.